"Gregorian" has a faintly Papal flavor, but in Roman dialect gregorio also means the "behind."
La difesa della razza was the publication of the Italian racists, sponsored by the Fascists after the special (i.e., antisemitic) laws of 1938.
The Foro Italico — formerly Foro Mussolini — is a complex of stadiums, swimming pool, and other sports buildings on the northern outskirts of Rome. It was — and still is — decorated by pseudo-heroic male statues, each representing a city or a region of Italy. Latium (Lazio) is the region of Rome.
The Priory of the Knights of Malta is on the Aventine Hill, just above the Clivo de' Publicii.
Pinturicchio (or Pintoricchio) was a nickname, meaning "little" painter; Doctor Fumi is making a pun on the name.
That is to say, to Ingravallo's native Molise.
Another reference to Mussolini.
The sibyl of Cumae (just outside Naples) was renowned in ancient times, described by Virgil in Book Six of the Aeneid.
To ward off the evil eye.
A complicated and typically Gaddian aside: he refers to the bureaucratic confusion which once had him registered as Paolo Emilio. (Paulus Emilius, in 216 B.C., advised Varro not to fight Hannibal; Varro did and was defeated at Cannae. Paulus was killed, having refused to flee when the opportunity was given him.) Then he was registered as Paolo Maria, before he succeeded in having his name entered properly, correcting also "Gadola" into "Gadda."
R.R.C.C., the Royal Carabinieri.
A reference to the Bernini St. Teresa in Ecstasy, in the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome.
Fara Filiorum Petri is the peculiar name of a small town in the Abruzzo from which, apparently, this carabiniere private comes. Gadda refers to him at times by the name of the town, at times by combined forms of it ("Farafilio"), and at times by his surname, Cocullo.
This whole passage is underlined by an untranslatable play on the similarity of two words, la luce (light) and I'alluce (big toe).
Babylon, in this case, means Rome.
"At prompting of the Eternal Spirit's breath," Dante, Paradiso, XII, 99 (Binyon translation).
" Crescite vero in gratia et in cognitione Domini. Petri Secunda Epistula: (111-18)." (Author's note).". . grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord. ."
"Saepe proposui venire ad vos et prohibitus sum usque adhuc. Pauli ad Romanos: (1-13)." (Author's note).". . oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, but I was let hitherto. ."
Gioacchino Belli (1791–1863), Roman dialect poet.
A pun on the words prati (meadows) and pascoli (pastures), surnames of two Italian nineteenth-century poets. Pascoli, a bachelor, lived with his sister.
The soldiers of the bersaglieri (sharpshooters) regiments wear hats with special plumes of cock tail-feathers.
In Northern Italy proper names, in indirect reference, are often preceded by the definite article. Pestalozzi thought he heard her say la Camilla.
Gaetano Filangieri (1752-88), enlightened political thinker and author.
The spinone is an Italian hunting dog; the Maremmano is a large white sheepdog.
Delagrange was a French aviator who gave flying exhibitions in Italy. "Will Delagrange fly?" was the headline of his publicity poster.
Paolo Ignazio Maria Thaon di Revel, Mussolini's Minister of Finance, 1935-43. "Gadfly" is a play on the words tafano (gadfly) and Thaon.
Cf. Dante, Purgatorio, XX, 54: "Save one, who gave himself to the grey dress" (Binyon translation, a reference to the last of the Carolingians, who became a monk).
A Gaddian private joke. Originally the phrase went, "like the daddy of Vittorini" (the novelist Elio Vittorini is, in fact, the son of a station-master). Then, afraid of offending a fellow-writer, Gadda changed the name to the mysterious "Lucherino."
The Palio is the famous Siena horse race, where different sections of the city are represented, each with a special name and device: Torre (tower), Tartuca (turtle), Oca (goose), etc.
Angelo Inganni (1807-80), a painter from Brescia.
The prince would be Prince Torlonia, owner of much of the land in this area.
Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, Rome's market square, has in its center some Roman ruins that resemble the famous faraglioni, tower-like rock formations near the shore of Capri.
Tullus and Ancus, third and fourth kings of Rome.
The word "Cacco" is close, in sound, to several Italian obscenities (see footnote, page 57), unsuited to the lips of Sora Margherita.
One feature of Fascist nationalism was the banishing from Italian usage of all foreign words: "ouverture" became "apertura," for example, and — in this case "chauffeur" became "autista."
The "battle of grain" was Mussolini's campaign to increase the production of wheat in Italy.